Many people are surprised to learn that the season's we experience—winter, spring, summer and fall—have nothing to do with the distance of Earth from the Sun. In this science fair project, you will investigate how the temperature on Earth actually depends on the tilt of Earth's axis of rotation.
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EnvSci_p051

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Time Required

Short (2-5 days)

Prerequisites

None

Material Availability

You will need a couple of specialty items: a globe of Earth and a heat lamp. Light from the sun can be used if a heat lamp is not available.

Have you ever dreamed about becoming invisible? Or about making something else invisible, like the mess all over your room? Invisibility may sound like the stuff of science fiction (remember Star Trek's "Cloaking Device"?), but in reality, military vehicles, like planes and ships, can be made less observable, or even invisible, to different detection methods—like radar, sonar, or infrared sensors—by using stealth technology. In this engineering science fair project, you'll find out…
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Phys_p075

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Time Required

Average (6-10 days)

Prerequisites

None

Material Availability

Readily available

Cost

Low ($20 - $50)

Safety

You should never look directly into an LED flashlight, as it can cause eye damage.

Have you ever looked up at the stars at night and wondered how fast they were moving or how far away they were? By studying how the brightness of a star changes with distance, you can answer those questions. In this astronomy science project, you'll create a model of starlight and use a light meter to discover the key relationship between brightness and distance.
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You might think that plants and animals have little in common with batteries, springs, or slingshots, but they actually do have something in common. Both living and non-living things store and transfer energy from one form to another. In this physics science fair project, you'll investigate this energy storage and transfer, not in a plant or animal, but in bouncy balls. You'll find out if there are limits on how much energy can be stored and if there are losses when the energy is transferred.
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Have you ever been annoyed by poor Wi-Fi reception for your phone, tablet, or laptop? Do you wish there was something you could do about it? In this project you will learn how to build a parabolic reflector that you can attach to the antenna of a regular wireless router to help boost its signal.
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CompSci_p010

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Time Required

Short (2-5 days)

Prerequisites

None

Material Availability

This project requires a Wi-Fi router and a smartphone, tablet, or laptop with a Wi-Fi connection. You will also need access to a printer to print the parabolic template. See the Materials and Equipment list for details.

In baseball, coaches use hit charts to track the results of every hit each player makes, giving a measure of the player's performance. Have you ever wondered what things affect where a baseball goes when a player hits it with a bat? In this project you will set up an experiment to hit a ping pong ball in a controlled manner using a toy catapult, then learn about the physics of baseball by making your own hit chart.
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Sports_p060

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Time Required

Average (6-10 days)

Prerequisites

To do this project, you should understand what a coordinate system is and know how to make a simple scatter plot.

Material Availability

This science project requires a kit available from the Science Buddies . See the Materials and Equipment list for details. Estimated project time includes shipping.

Cost

Average ($40 - $80)

Safety

Never launch projectiles at people or animals. Be careful not to get your fingers caught in the moving parts of the catapult.

You are right next to the basket and someone passes you the ball. Will you go for a direct shot or will you use the backboard and take a bank shot at the basket? Would different positions on the court give you a higher chance of making a shot using the backboard than others, even when keeping the distance from the hoop the same?
In this science project, you will build a scale model and test different positions on the court to determine if one results in a better chance of making a bank shot…
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Sports_p024

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Time Required

Short (2-5 days)

Prerequisites

None

Material Availability

Readily available

Cost

Very Low (under $20)

Safety

Adult supervision is recommended when using the craft or utility knife.

Did you know that throwing, kicking, and punting a football all involve the science of projectile motion? A star NFL® quarterback, kicker, and punter each need to have a very good understanding of how a football moves through the air in order to help them win games. In this science project, you will set up a rubber band-powered catapult to represent a field goal kicker, and study how changing the distance from the goalposts affects how hard it is to accurately kick a field goal.
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Sports_p059

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- Less Details

Time Required

Average (6-10 days)

Prerequisites

None

Material Availability

This science project requires a kit available from the Science Buddies . See the Materials and Equipment list for details. Estimated project time includes shipping.

Cost

Average ($40 - $80)

Safety

Never launch projectiles at people, animals, or anything fragile. Be careful not to get your fingers caught in moving parts of the catapult.

Would you like some sky vegetables for dinner? How about some fresh-cut roof flowers to put in vases in your house? Around the world, rooftops are being transformed into living green expanses. Besides beauty, rooftop gardens have a number of advantages, including growing food and taking carbon dioxide out of the air while releasing breathable oxygen. But can rooftop gardens also keep your house cooler and lower your energy bill? Try this science fair project to find out.
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If you've ever played or watched basketball, you might already know that your chances of successfully banking a shot on the backboard are higher in certain positions on the basketball court, even when keeping the distance from the hoop the same. Ever wondered what would account for this? Do you think you could actually explain this using geometry? This science project will put your knowledge of geometry and algebra to good use. You will calculate and quantify how much more difficult it is to…
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You can find this page online at: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/search.shtml?v=solt&pi=Astro_p033.shtml

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